Vaccine diplomacy, vaccine nationalism or vaccine equity?: The EU’s discourse on COVID-19 vaccination distribution and cultures of international anarchy

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is an extensive world political challenge, a global “wicked problem” with potential societal changes. From the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, global power relations and diplomatic controversies have been embedded in the response. COVID-19 vaccines and their global distribution became a matter of high interest in world politics. The vaccines were regarded as the way out of the pandemic and even a question of life and death. In 2021, a huge “vaccination gap” emerged. This refers to the differences in vaccination rates between Global North and the Global South. Vaccination inequality became evident. This was primarily due to the practices of the industrialized countries securing the vaccine doses for themselves. The European Union (EU) was in the middle of the global COVID-19 vaccination distribution turbulence as it had made a joint purchase of several types of vaccines, securing the vaccinations for its member states. It was also involved with donations to third countries and global solidarity efforts through the COVAX facility. The COVID-19 vaccinations and their distribution were given several meanings, such as solidary, geopolitical, diplomatic, and nationalistic.

This thesis studies the EU’s discourse on COVID-19 vaccination distribution. Following the constructivist paradigm of international relations, it is presumed that realities are shaped by social interaction. This thesis studies how the EU institutions construct world politics and the EU itself while addressing the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations and what the emerging discourses disclose about the EU’s position in world politics. The research questions are approached through Alexander Wendt’s three cultures of international anarchy: Hobbesian enmity, Lockean rivalry and Kantian friendship.

A discourse analysis of 163 pieces of EU speeches, debates, statements, and communications on the COVID-19 vaccination distribution enabled finding of five meaningful discourses. These discourses are the discourse of responsibility and solidarity, the discourse of vaccination diplomacy, the discourse of geopolitics of COVID-19 vaccines, the discourse of self-interest and vaccination nationalism and lastly, the discourse of systematic struggle and urgency of further integration of EU integration. These discourses intertwine, support, and contradict each other, interestingly providing a picture of the EU’s challenging world political context.

This study provides a nuanced overview of the EU’s discourse during a historical crisis that put the EU’s self-image and value-based external action under scrutiny. The EU’s construction of the world political situation included the EU’s pressure to respond to the rising power politics that also materialized in vaccination distribution policies. This study finds that the EU’s Other-pictures are seemingly threatening during the time of interest, from December 2020 to February 2022. The EU’s discourses give the vaccine distribution a geopolitical meaning. They also contribute to the institutions of vaccine nationalism and self-help and reproduce the systemic struggle. However, the EU’s discourses also entail its responsibility for regions outside the Union as well as an emphasis on vaccination equity through COVAX. The discourses intertwine in highly interesting ways, contributing to an understanding that the EU’s solidarity efforts in vaccine distribution are linked to its geopolitical interests. This can be seen at least partly contradicting the EU’s self-portrayal as a “force for good”.